Live Fatwa (How to Keep the Spirit of Hajj and Other Issues)

Session Guest

Sheikh Kifah Mustapha is the Imam and Director of The Prayer Center of Orland Park and representative for Dar El Fatwa of Lebanon in the US

Saturday, Sep. 09, 2017 | 13:00 - 15:00 Makkah | 10:00 - 12:00 GMT

Session Status

Session is over.

Dear Brothers/Sisters,

Thank you very much for joining us in this Live Fatwa session. We would like also to thank our guest, Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, for answering the questions directed to him. You will find the answers of your questions below.

Is it important to have a hobby? If yes, should it be beneficial for after life? How do we know how much resources and time should we invest into a hobby?
I am taking medicines for mental illness and was divorc ed for not disclosing it before marriage. I feel either parents or girls would not be willing to marry me. Am I allowed to go for improper ways like dating to impress women?
Can I give da'wa to a woman seeing both the possibility of marrying her and not marrying her? Am I allowed to pray istikharah to marry a girl who has faith but has not yet accepted Islam?

It is not ordained religiously to have a hobby. Hobbies are personal choices. You do not have to have a hobby; it is totally up to you. It is good on a personal level to have good hobbies that you can benefit from. It will benefit you indeed after life if it was goodness to people.

Looking for a spouse is great but you must tell of your medical conditions so you will not be deceiving the spouse or her family. If they accept you with your condition, then that is the proper channel.

You can give Dawah to all people, but you need to keep the proper conduct when dealing with the other gender.

Dating to impress women in a Haram way is not allowed. You can use social venues like through family and websites to look for the best match and be yourself and honest about all your matters.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Alhumdulilah I'm studying the Quran nowadays so many of my misconceptions are being cleared up and Im getting to know the wisdom behind many things. I understand the fact that everything stated in the Qur'an and Sunnah has some special wisdom behind it.
I would like to know that why in Islam a Muslim man is allowed to marry a Christian or Jewish woman? Are there any special conditions to this? I mean, conditions like whether the Christian or Jewish woman should be very practicing or moderate in her religion? I've heard that marrying a Christian or Jewish woman is only allowed in cases of extreme necessity, like if a Muslim woman is not available to marry. Don't know if this is true, but I heard that in the time of Umar (R.A), some Sahaba married Kitabiya women and he told them to divorce those woman because Muslim women were available to marry that time. I understand that a Muslim woman cannot marry a Non Muslim man because of the sheer differences and pressures that would come in terms of faith, but what about the wisdom in allowing Muslim men to marry Christian and Jewish women?

A Muslim man is allowed to marry a Jewish or a Christian woman with the condition of chastity. No details were given by the Quran or the prophet (peace be upon him) in relation to the level of their religious practices. Some companions made it prohibited based on circumstances like `Umar when he told Abu `Ubaidah to divorce his newly Christian wife explaining that no men will be available to marry Muslim women if one leader like Abu `Ubaidah set an example.

Some scholars say that only if you live in a place where you can guarantee the well-being religious identity of your kids and that in case of divorce the non-Muslim wife will not change their faith away from Islam.

In short, it is permissible with one condition that Allah said in Qur’an that they must be muhsanat or protecting their honor. All other conditions are points of views in relation to environment and time and can change relatively.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Assalamu'alaykum. I am on my last days of menses. I don't think I experience any white discharge to guide me about my end of period so I waited for blood cessation. What I want to ask is, what if I think my period has not ended, so I left my prayers and fasting, but then apparently it has ended and no discharge come anymore, do I have to make up the prayers? Also, what I know that spotting after menses is the remaining menses blood that hasn't come out. So does spotting of brownish discharge count as menses?

Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Two signs declare the end of menses; either the white discharge or the total dry status in which no blood would come out after. If you thought you were not clean yet and missed prayer but verified you were clean you must make up what you missed. If you did not verify you were clean but was in a doubtful status, you are considered still not clean and no need to redo the prayers until you are sure 100%.

If brownish spots are connected to the regular period, then it is a normal period. If it was disconnected in time and fell over the regular days, then it is not.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Salam,for some work I was looking through wikipedia on information about
mermaids and it says this:"A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature ... The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess
Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame..." (and then they talk about legends of mermaids you can check the article.) Does this
mean I should stop anything related with mermaids, and stop kids from watching movies about mermaids for example? Thank you

Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Watching mermaid’s movies or reading stories in an entertainment way are fine. `A’isha, the Prophet’s wife (may Allah be pleased with her) used to have a toy of a horse with 2 wings. But to believe in their existence as holy and sacred and have some sort of praise for them to that will make it haram (prohibited).

Almighty Allah knows best.

Recently I came across an article where someone(Mr. X) was described as a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. I respect your all the scholars and contributors to your website and the good work they are doing in promoting the moderate face of Islam. However, don't you think that calling an Ahmadiya a Muslim, when religious scholars belonging to different school of thoughts, unanimously agree that they are kafirs and heretics, amounts to misrepresentation of facts to a certain degree

Basic beliefs of Ahmadiyyah include that Mirza in a prophet after Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which contradicts basic belief to Islam. We belief that Muhammad was the last prophet and messenger and anyone who believes in a new prophet after him has caused a major change in our creed.

For that all Muslim scholars do not even consider them true Muslims even if they claim shahada. Islam cannot be divided; you must take it all as one unit.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Asa, I was wondering if it is permissible for a woman to perform the nikkah ceremony.

Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

There are two ways to understand your question. If the women was just a processor of the paper work like a lawyer who will file it in court or a clerk in an Islamic court and she documented the marriage in its conditions as the acceptance of marriage from both parties, the presence of the girl’s Walii, the Mahr and the two witnesses etc.. then yes she can do that.

But if the question meant either the girl marrying herself or acting as the Imam conducting the marriage, it should be checked under what is acceptable in that country. You do not want women to conduct marriage in a society that it can revoke later because of the cultural practices as part of understanding religion too. Most of the schools of thought do not permit women to initiate a Nikah for herself or for another person.

The school of Abu Hanifah allows a woman to marry herself without Wali if she is an adult and proper candidate came to her, she can assign whoever she wishes to be her Wali.

Based on that view, I can say that if it is accepted in a place to have a female acting as the one who performs Nikah ceremony, it should be fine. The reason I say that is because marriage needed no specific person to process nikah ceremony in early time of Islam. It was a trusted word of mouth between groom, father of bride and 2 witnesses. Later in time it was assigned to the Imam to do it as one who knows the details of requirements.

So yes with these conditions:

1- the female must be Sharia graduate who knows all details of marriage conditions and requirements and apply them.

2- Both families must be in favor of it.

3- No problem in country of residence to file such marriage by a female.